


Unsent

by cattacodinosaur



Series: The Undone Series [3]
Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: M/M, Pining Rhett, Tropetastic Tuesday, Unsent letters, college and after, rhett in slovakia, tropetastictuesdy14
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-15
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-11-14 08:05:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11203869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cattacodinosaur/pseuds/cattacodinosaur
Summary: Rhett writes letters to Link while in Slovakia. Link never receives the letters





	Unsent

**Author's Note:**

> This is a late entry to the tropetastic tuesday prompt #14. A story told through documents. I'm not sure if it counts and it is hella late because of life. Anyway, this takes place in the same universe as Untitled(Remember) and At Night. 
> 
> (I tried to keep their timeline as close as I could to how it was, but I probably def took a lot of liberties with the timeline. I did try to research in some of their videos for years and whatnot...)

_Nights in white satin_  
_Never reaching the end_  
_Letters I've written_  
_Never meaning to send_

_-"Nights In White Satin/Late Lament" -The Moody Blues  
_

* * *

 

 

_January 9, 1999_

_Link,_

_Thank God, man. I was so scared. You could have died, man! The doctor's say you have memory loss. I believe them. At least, I need to believe them. I may have said some things last night while you were out cold. Some horrible, embarrassing, unnatural things. But I was just so scared, brother. I'm gonna wrap you in bubble wrap and keep you safe from now on._

_-Rhett_

_P.S. It was all true, though._

Rhett folded the piece of paper into quarters and slid it into his back pocket. He'd give it to Link when he woke up. When all of this was over. When those feelings subsided.

Link never received the note. But he probably wouldn't have remembered getting it anyway.

* * *

 

_June 1, 1999_

_Link,_

_Happy birthday! 21, man. Can you believe it! You're so lucky to have known me for so long! I hope you like your gift!_

_I love you, man._

_-Rhett_

Rhett's hastily scrawled the message on the inside of a cheap birthday card he "borrowed" from his mama's stash of emergency cards. It was an unfortunate card, clearly picked out by a middle age woman with too much time spent in a Hallmark store. The card had a picture on the front of a goofy looking cartoon cat with "YOU'RE HOW OLD?!" printed above its ridiculous expression. The googly eyes that were glued onto it jiggled as he slipped it into the off-white envelope. He quickly wrote out _**"LINK"**_ on the front of the envelope and stashed it in his messenger bag. Link had teased him about the bag all year, calling it his purse. Rhett didn't care. He kept all his important things in there. His Walkman, a journal, and snacks.

Later that night, after the celebration had already started, Rhett would remember to hand over the Merle Haggard CD he had picked out and even managed to wrap himself. Yet the card went forgotten, lost in the folds of the worn journal.

Link hadn't noticed the absence of the card.

* * *

 

 

_June 29, 1999_

_Dear Link,_

_Hey. I hope everything is going well back home in the states. I miss everyone so much. I miss the food. The music. I miss Jessie. I found this really weird internet cafe here. It's just this strange room with a bunch of computers and creepy locals looking at porn. I don't look at it though. I'm only here so I can e-mail Jessie's grandma. She prints off the letters for Jessie. I know what you are thinking, man. Why don't I just write to her like I do for you? I guess I just want her to get the letter right away. It's less intimate, but she's told me she saves all the letters anyway._

_I miss you most of all._

_-Always, Rhett_

  
_P.S. The towels here are so small._

  
Rhett folded the letter into thirds and slipped it into a plain white envelope. He scribbled Link's address on the front and sat it aside. He'd find a stamp and mail it in the morning.

The letter sat, unsent, beneath a stack of travel guides.

* * *

 

 

_July 4, 1999_

_Dear Link,_

_Hey, buddyroll! How was the picnic at Christy's? Did you take her to see the fireworks over Cape Feare? That was always my favorite part of the Fourth. Sitting on that old bridge with you, our legs dangling over the edge as the sky lit up. You're little jumps at the loud ones. I always protected you from the loud ones and then afterward I'd get you a snow cone for the drive home. Did you kiss her as the fireworks went off? I thought about that the other day. What it would be like to kiss someone under the exploding lights. The embers falling in the sky like lightnin' bugs._

_I thought about kissin' you._

_-Rhett_

Rhett reread the letter and panicked. He folded it up and stuffed it in an envelope, unmarked. He stashed it in his suitcase, away from prying eyes. Away from his own feelings.

* * *

 

 

_July 15, 1999_

_Link,_

_I got your letter yesterday. I'm sorry I haven't sent you any letters since I got to Slovakia. I've just been busy, I guess. I've been having a lot of weird dreams. I think it's all the cheese. Last night I dreamt that you came with me. We stopped at a little cafe and sipped hot coffee while we toured the city. You held my hand. I leaned down to kiss you and then I woke up. Isn't that the way it always goes? Just when it gets good, you wake up?_

_I wonder, could you ever possibly dream of me? The way I do you?_

_-Always, Rhett_

Rhett slipped the letter into the pages of his notebook. He couldn't send this. Same as how he couldn't send any of the other letters. Link had sounded so disappointed in his last letter. _**'Did you find a new best friend out there? I miss you,** **bo** **. Christy says hi.'** _

* * *

 

_July 30, 1999_

_My Dearest Link,_

_Link.Buddy. Listen. I am drunk off of Borovička and shouldn't be writing this letter. I think about you. About kissing you, biting your neck. I want to run my hands down your chest. I want to feel your heart beating. I want to watch you wiggle out of those stupid baggy jeans. I want to blow you. I know it would be so good. You have no idea what your mouth does to me. It drives me crazy. Fuck, Link. I want to touch every inch of you. Feel you. Be inside you. I touch myself to you. Have for a while. You're just so hot. And you have no idea. Please. I need you._

_-Best Regards, Rhett J. McLaughlin_

Rhett awoke the next morning at his desk, the letter from the night before plastered to his cheek. He read it silently, horrified. Of all the letters Link could never see, this one was the worst. He wanted to rip it to shreds. Burn it in his wastebasket and expel the memory from his mind. Instead, he folded it and placed it with the other unsent mail.

* * *

  
_August 1, 1999_

_Link,_

_Damn it. I love you, okay. And I can't tell you and it is killing me. Every time I close my eyes I see you. I see you with her. Kissing her. Every person on the street reminds me of you and I have to remind myself you aren't here. You aren't mine. My heart hurts when I think of you. Of all the things we have done together. Of all the things we could do. There is still time. I love Jessie and I guess that will have to be enough. I know I haven't sent you a single letter. I can't. Every time I sit down to write to you, I pour my heart out onto the paper. I'm afraid to come home. I'm afraid to see you. I'm afraid I'll blurt it all out and lose you forever. I'm afraid of myself. My feelings. These feelings I've had for as long as I can remember. I don't know why being so far away has made me want to pour my heart and soul out to you._

_I know you could never feel the same way. And it's killing me._

_-Love, Rhett_

Rhett put this letter with the others. He gathered up all the letters and fastened them together with a rubber band. He only had a few more weeks before he returned back to North Carolina. Back to Link. His best friend. Nothing more. Back to Jessie. The one he is supposed to be in love with. He loved her also. But there shouldn't be an also. It should just be her. Only her. He had to stop these feelings. He had to stop.  
But, just like sending the letters, he knew he'd never follow through.

* * *

 

_August 20, 1999_

_Link,_  
_Jessie emailed me, said you weren't coming with her to the airport. I'm sorry. I know you must be mad at me for not writing you. I'd be mad too. Please reconsider. You're my best friend,_ _buddyroll._  
_-Rhett_

He wrote the letter too late. It would never reach Link in time. He put it with the others, tears in his eyes. He checked his watch. He didn't have time to go to the cyber cafe and email Link. And Link was terrible at checking his email, anyway. He finished packing the last of his things. He gently placed the parcel of sealed envelopes in his messenger back and slung it over his shoulder. He wheeled his suitcase to the curb and flagged down a cab.

Link was not at the airport when Rhett disembarked.

* * *

  
_May 2000_

_Link,_

_I'm writing this to you while you share your first dance as a married couple with Christy. She looks so beautiful. And you. I've never seen you look better. But I'm jealous. My heart hurts. I may be a little drunk, too. But, Link. That could be me. Us. Who am I kidding? Never in a million years could two guys get married. Never in a million years would you want to marry me. I'm not soft, delicate...I'm not a woman. But...what if I had been? Or you? Would this be us now? I like to think that there is an alternate universe somewhere where we are together. A universe where I can hold you as you fall asleep. Kiss you without worrying about what people would say. What you would do. We could be so happy together. Just us. But it's too late now. You're a married man and soon, I'll be married too._

_-All my love, Rhett_

Rhett kept the letter with the others. It would be the last one he would write. He hid them in the old messenger bag and stored it in the furthest corner of his closet where it would remain until one warm day several years later. They were moving. Not just his family. Link's too. People had been watching their videos, sharing them. They were wanted out in California. For television. The big time.

He read the letters, one by one. They were old, creased and fragile. He read the folded up note from the hospital first. Then the forgotten birthday card. Letter after letter from Slovakia. Tears filled his eye with each letter. His feelings for Link hadn't changed since that last letter, written so long ago. If anything, they had continued to grow, to mature. He thought back to all those nights where he would lay wide awake staring at the moon and the stars with Link's shining smile in his mind and a warmth in his chest.

Deep in the inset pocket of the old messenger bag was a yellowed slip of notebook paper. It had been hastily ripped from its binding, the edges rough and curled from time. He carefully unfolded it.

 _I, Rhett James McLaughlin and I, Charles Lincoln Neal III do_ solemnly _swear to one day do something big together._

They had signed their names, old signatures that they hadn't yet honed. Sloppy teenage writing above browned blood. Rhett smiled. He thought he lost this years ago. Thought it had gone through the wash or was thrown away by his mother on one of her cleaning frenzies. He refolded it, careful not to rip the old note. Carefully, he sat it on the tidy pile of unsent correspondence.

* * *

  
_April 2011_

_Dear Link,_  
_I'm sitting on the floor of my bedroom surrounded by letters I wrote to you but never sent. One day, probably when I'm dead, you'll find these letters. One day, you'll finally know how I feel. I have never stopped loving you. I love you more and more every day. How many people can say that they have what we have? How many best friends get to travel across the country to live out their dream? We are so lucky man. I am so lucky to have you in my life, even if it is just as a friend. On your 21st birthday, I meant to give you this card, but I forgot. In it, I wrote, "You're so lucky to have known me for so long!" But it is me. I'm the lucky one._

_-Love, Rhett_

Rhett placed the letter on the bottom of the pile, no envelope needed this time. It wasn't going to get mailed. He tied an old shoe lace around the stack of letters and placed them back in the old knapsack where they would remain until half a decade later, untouched.

* * *

  
January, half a decade later.

"Hey, Rhett. Do you have a sweatshirt I can borrow? I'm kinda chilly." Rhett nodded, a silent "help yourself. You know where the closet is."

Link browsed through Rhett's wardrobe before settling on the baggy cacti printed sweatshirt. As he tugged the shirt off the hanger, a bag jostled and fell at Link's feet. The contents spilled from the widened opening. Letters scattered at Link's bare feet, still in a semi-tidy pile. On the very top of the pile was a familiar folded note from so long ago. A note Rhett claimed to have misplaced almost immediately. He lowered himself to the floor of the walk-in closet and began to read.

 


End file.
